Jeremy John Irons (/ˈaɪ.ənz/; born 19 September 1948) is an English actor and activist. He is one of the few actors who have achieved the Triple Crown of Acting, winning an Oscar for film, an Emmy for television and a Tony Award for theatre. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969 and has appeared in many West End theatre productions, including the Shakespeare plays The Winter's Tale, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew, and Richard II. In 1984, he made his Broadway debut in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing, receiving the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.
Irons's break-out role came in the ITV series Brideshead Revisited (1981) which is frequently ranked among the greatest British television dramas as well as greatest literary adaptations. His first major film role came in The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), for which he received a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor. After starring in dramas such as Moonlighting (1982), Betrayal (1983), The Mission (1986), and Dead Ringers (1988), he received the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the accused attempted murderer Claus von Bülow in Reversal of Fortune (1990).
Irons starred in Kafka (1991), The House of the Spirits (1993), and M. Butterfly (1993). He voiced Scar in Disney's The Lion King (1994), played Simon Gruber in Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), Humbert Humbert in Lolita (1997) and Aramis in The Man in the Iron Mask (1998). He starred in The Merchant of Venice (2004), Being Julia (2004), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), Eragon (2006), Appaloosa (2008), and Margin Call (2011). He portrayed Alfred Pennyworth in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Justice League (2017), and Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021).
On television, Irons appeared in the HBO miniseries Elizabeth I, receiving Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. From 2011 to 2013, he starred as Pope Alexander VI in the Showtime historical series The Borgias. In 2019, he appeared as Adrian Veidt / Ozymandias in HBO's Watchmen. In October 2011, he was nominated the Goodwill Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Early life and education
Irons was born on 19 September 1948 in Cowes on the Isle of Wight, to Paul Dugan Irons, an accountant, and Barbara Anne Brereton Brymer (née Sharpe). Irons has a brother, Christopher (born 1943), and a sister, Felicity Anne (born 1944). He was educated at the independent Sherborne School in Dorset from 1962 to 1966. He was the drummer and harmonica player in a four-man school band called the Four Pillars of Wisdom.
